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Kick-off times to change to mark Hillsborough

Kick-off times across English football will be moved back seven minutes to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Published

21 March 2014

The Football Association announced on Friday that matches over the weekend of April 11-14 will start seven minutes later to honour the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives as a result of the catastrophic events of April 15 1989 in Sheffield.

The decision encompasses all Premier League, Football League, Conference and FA Cup fixtures.

Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on the day of the disaster was halted at 3.06pm - six minutes after kick-off.

And plans have now been made to start all games between April 11 and 14 this year seven minutes later than scheduled, with all stadiums to observe 60 seconds of silence in the minute before kick-off.

This year's FA Cup semi-finals take place at Wembley that weekend, with Wigan Athletic's game at Arsenal on April 12 now due to start at 5:07pm, while Hull City's clash with Sheffield United the following day will begin at 4:07pm.